Gracious Living
by will o' the wisp
Summary: Relena is dealt a heavy hand in college. (Possible Rx1) WARNING: Contains mature themes rape, abuse, anorexia, suicide. Please bear with me this is only the prologue. PLEASE R+R
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, any of its characters, or Mt. Holyoke College. I also do not own the concept of Gracious Living (Yes it was real at one time, I think.) I have been inspired to write about thanks to Wendy Wasserstien's amazing play "Uncommon Women" which I obviously also do not own. So don't sue me, it's a waste of your time I do however own Emma, Veronica, Miriam, Georgia and all the the other girls in the house.  
  
Gracious Living: Prologue  
  
Relena looked up at the old brick building that towered over her. Suitcase in hand she took a deep breath and stepped up onto the porch. Placing her parcels down she reached out and gently pressed on the doorbell. For some reason it's ring started her, perhaps she wasn't ready for something to interupt the silence that had filled her journey to Mt. Holyoke.  
  
The heavy oak door creaked softly as a girl with golden hair and chocolate eyes opened "Oh hi!" She exclaimed cheerily "You must be Relena! All the other freshmen are here already. Welcome to Gracious Living, I'm Georgia. Well don't just stand there come in." She reached out and snatched one of Relena's suitcases "Here let me help you, I bet you're exhausted it's a long ride from the airport."  
  
Relena smiled as the tension drained from her body "Thank you." She replied politley "I need to get the rest of my things from the car, excuse me for a minute."  
  
Georgia flashed another Hollywood smile "Alright, just drag 'em thing the doors unlocked. Some of the other girls will help you get them upstairs, you'll be staying in the Dickenson Room. When you go upstairs it's the third door on your left, you might want to freshen up all the girls are required to attend Gracious Tea at four."  
  
Relena nodded in acknowledgement. She didn't want to stay in a house while she was in college, she had prefered to stay in a dorm. Yet her brother insisted that a house was a far neater and more selective enviorment. Gracious Living was quiet expensive so only the wealthy could afford it. It was reestablished about ten years ago, after being shut down in 1960's during the femminist revolution. Gracious maintained a traditional attmosphere of Victorian elegance while still being conducive to the modern sensibilities of the educated woman. Still Relena was hesitant about living in a house full of heiresses.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* With the help of several other girls Relena was able to get all her things upstairs in a relatively short period of time. As she set down the last box before the door of the Dickenson room she heaved a sigh. Collecting herself, she gingerly opened the door to her new room.  
  
It was very pretty, white wallpaper decorated with small pink rosebuds covered the room. Across from her was a window neatly draped with white curtains. There was a white bed on each side of the window with a matching nightstand next to it and a chest at it's foot. One of the beds was already made. On it sat a girl who looked to be about Relena's age. She was a tiny whisp of a girl, with ash brown hair cut in a neat bob and blue eyes which focused on the book on her lap. She was dressed in a neat style, reminisant of the 1920s. She wore a white shirt with a dainty collar and short puffed sleeves and a gray tweed pencil skirt that fell to her knees. A pair of Mary-Janes stood beside her bed.  
  
The girl looked up at Relena with wide blue eyes and then spoke softly "Hello, I'm Emma Rothschilde, you must be Relena."  
  
Relena smiled at the mild-mannered girl "Nice to meet you."  
  
"You might want to unpack later we are expected to be in the parlor in half an hour for tea." Emma noted.  
  
"I'll just wash up and unpack something to change into then." Relena mused.  
  
Emma nodded and went back to her book. Relena took a moment to look around the room, there was a dresser and an armour as well as two small desks. On the wall over each bed where several bookshelves, the ones above Emma's bed had already been filled to maximum capacity. On Relena's side of the room there was a door that presumably led to the bathroom.  
  
Relena picked up a turquoise suitcase from the hallway and dragged it up onto her bed. She opened it and began to take out some clean clothing.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
At four o'clock Relena followed Emma downstairs to the parlor room where they and the other ten girls in the house where expected for tea. The girls sat down on the sofas and chairs as well as the window seat and looked attentively at their housemother Ms. Prince. The elderly woman dressed in a long violet dress with a ivory brooch on her neck made sure everyone was seated before she began.  
  
"Ladies," She said "It is both my honor and priveledge to welcome you to a new year here at Gracious Living. I am thrilled to see some new faces as well as some old ones. I know that we will have a wonderful year. For those of you who are new here my name is Ms. Prince and I will be your housemother. I have been here since Mt. Holyoke has reopened Gracious....."  
  
She continued on and on about rules, traditions and procedures as the girls drank their tea and nibled on delicate finger sandwitches and cookies. "....And now we shall sing our anthem which dates back to the original gracious house!" Ms. Prince declared. Relena watched as all the girls stood up and sang:  
  
"Tired of books and boring classes? Drop your books pick up your glasses! Drink to the girls who think Of mixing Greek and Latin with a cool Manhatten! Smith may have its ice tea hours We prefer our whiskey sours! Drink to the girls who think....."  
  
As they sang the last note the girls all sat down in a flurry of rustling skirts. The girls took the remainder of tea time to mingle with new girls and old friends. The girl on Relena's left turned to her. She held out her hand and introduced herself "Hi, my name is Miriam. What's your's?"  
  
Relena shook her hand "Relena."  
  
The girl smiled "Junior, History major, pre-law, and you?"  
  
"Freshman, political sciences major." Relena replied.  
  
Miriam pushed a loose strand of hair that fell from her bun from her face and continued "Who's your roommate?"  
  
"Emma Rothschilde." Relena answered.  
  
Miriam chuckled "Lucky. Emma's a real sweetheart, and a genius too. She skipped a grade and came here last year, she's really your age. I'm rooming with Veronica Green, she's completely nuts! She's totally set on being the next Virginia Woolf."  
  
"Oh. I haven't talked to Emma that much, she's seems really nice but really shy." Relena commented.  
  
"Yea she is." Miriam agreed. "Hey!" She exclaimed and changed the topic "A couple of us are driving up to Boston this weekend, there's some circus in town with a fantastic knife throwing act. Do you want to come?"  
  
Relena hesitated "Ok, I guess. As long as I don't have to much homework."  
  
"Great!" Miriam jumped up "I have to go and catch up with a couple of people. Meet me Saturday at nine A.M. in the lobby. Oh yea! And invite Emma for me if you have a chance! Ciao!" With that Miriam hopped off to the other side of the room to join Georgia and two other girls.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
When Relena returned to her room, she was a bit surprised to find Emma already in there with a girl sitting on her bed. The girl was incredibly beautiful with long hair the color of expresso tied back in a ponytail and huge dark eyes. She and Emma where giggling secretively about something.  
  
Emma cocked her head up,"Oh hi Relena! Veronica, this is Relena. Relena, this Veronica." She introduced them.  
  
Relena smiled "You must be Miriam's roommate."  
  
Veronica nodded "Unfortunately, yes."  
  
"She seems nice." Relena said without much conviction.  
  
"That's because you don't know her," Veronica answered "She's a rich bitch who thinks she's better than everyone else because her dad owns a building on Wall Street. Not to mention she has no imagination whatsoever."  
  
"Oh." Relena replied, unable to come up with anything better. She looked at Emma who now stared out the window completely losted in a daydream. "I'll see you later." Relena said and slipped out of the room.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
When Relena returned to her room Veronica was gone and Emma was curled up on her bed with a book in hand. She didn't raise her eyes from the book but she spoke to Relena in her usual quiet fashion "Don't mind Veronica, people find her to be a bit abrasive but she's really a nice person once you get to know her. I find her free spirtit to be very refreshing. She and Miriam don't get along very well, they're total opposites. Don't think you have to like one or the other, you can appreciate them for being different but equal."  
  
Relena smiled gently, somehow Emma managed to ease her inner tention "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. By the way, Miriam wants to know if you wanted to go to the circus with us on Saturday."  
  
"I would love to go but I am afraid of clowns." Emma replied with a humorous frankness to her tone.  
  
Relena laughed a little, and started to unpack her things. Her mind however was not content with just trying to figure out where to put things, and against her will it began to wander. It wandered to a particular topic it seemed to gravitate to each time it was given the oppertunity to do so. It began to wonder about a pair of blue eyes, and their deadly stare, the hard yet beautiful face that they filled, and the soul beneath them.....'Heero' Relena let the name slip through her though it never seemed to reach her lips. Her heart started to crack slowly as she wondered 'Where are you now?...'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Something woke Relena in the middle of the night, someone was crying. She looked through a haze of lashes trying to see what was the matter. In the moonlight she could see the body of her roommate tremble as it wracked with each sob. Trails of tears sparkled on her cheeks. Relena could vaguely make out the words Emma was mumbling in her sleep "No....Stop it.....Please.....Don't touch me....Stop it....Don't touch me....No....Please...." Relena desperately wanted to do something, yet she couldn't sleep's tempting embrace claimed her and Emma's painful cries melted away as Relena was engulfed by a velvet silence.  
  
The second time Relena awoke, she wasn't tired anymore. The first signs of the sun had begun to streak the black sky. She could here Emma whimpering in her sleep. Relena stepped out of bed, she was thirtsy, she needed a glass of water. Silently she crept downstairs into the kitchen.  
  
Much to her surprise the kitchen light was already on. Veronica was sitting on the counter, with her knees gently hugged to her chest as she stared at the sunrise. A cat like grin spread across her features as she turned to Relena "Good morning, early bird. I guess I'll be sharing the sunrise with someone from now on eh?"  
  
Relena rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the light "No, just this once. I couldn't sleep." She paused for a moment as she tried to explain herself "I was-I mean, Emma-I heard her, she was crying in her sleep...." Her words trailed off.  
  
Veronica sighed heavily "Yea, she does that once in a while."  
  
Relena looked up at her "Why?"  
  
Veronica drew a deep breath "It's a long story." She began, "And I guess you'll find out sooner or later so I might as well tell you. Last year Emma had this boyfriend, a pre-law from Harvard, Richie Kietel. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple, he just seemed like prince charming. Rich, smart, ambitious-you know, the works. Anyways he was real coke fiend, he would get high off his ass and beat the shit out of her."  
  
Relena gasped "Oh my god!"  
  
"Yea, I know. It gets worse." Veronica continued "Anyways Emma never told any of us. We had no idea. Well this one time we were all going out and he came over, and he tried to rape her. Holly forgot her car keys inside and went to get them, she came into the house and heard Emma screaming so she ran upstairs. She bursts open the door and finds Richie ripping Emma's clothes off. She pulls him off of her, and after some very colorful language beats him with her umbrella and calls the cops. Emma's parents found out and sent her to a shrink. Nothing happened for a while and then she had a crack-up in his office and she refused to come back. Her dad ships her to Paris for the summer, and now she's back."  
  
Relena was at a loss for words "That's unbelievable," she stumbled "Oh my god, it's terrible. Poor Emma..."  
  
"There's a lot of scars under that doll face." Veronica mused "A lot of scars...."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Relena watched Emma very carefully at breakfast, she watched as she stared vacantly into her tea cup. Her fingers carefully tearing a piece of toast that never quiet reached her mouth. Relena noticed how incredibly thin Emma was, it was past the point of being fashionable, she was the size of a twelve year old!  
  
Relena's mind began to wander. Never in her life had she been so close to something like this. She had read about it in books, sometimes in the paper but never had she been sitting by the victim of such a heinous crime.  
  
She thought about the Gundam pilots, the miniature soldiers. They had seen their share of horrors yet somehow in this moment they pailed in comparisson. They were soldiers trained to see death and think nothing of it. But no one could be trained to see rape, violent abuse without rhyme or reason. Even the coldest of people would feel sick to their stomachs to be near something this wreached.  
  
'Heero' She thought 'What would you do?' She stopped herself 'No Relena, forget it! Don't even start with this, you know where this will end up, and it won't be pretty. Focus! Focus Relena! New life, new problems, forget about the past and move on!'  
  
"Relena," Emma spoke in a distant tone.  
  
"Yes?" Relena replied.  
  
"Do you feel like we're being watched?"  
  
Relena paused at such an odd question, her first reaction was to say no but it didn't feel right. Now that Emma did mention it she did feel as though a pair of eyes where on her. "I don't know," she replied "I don't know."  
  
"Oh, ok." Emma whispered timidly.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A pair of colbalt blue eyes peered through the hedges. Their gaze penetrated a window of the house to see a main of golden hair. "My mission is to protect you." Heero whispered "I will not fail."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A wee bit long for a prologue eh? Don't worry the whole story won't be as boring as this, I promise. I just needed to get some stuff out of the way. PLEASE Review, the only way I know that you have read this story and I should continue writing it is if you do so. I am open to suggestions for plot, writing style, character developement ect ect....And I am open for contructive critisizm "You suck" and "I hate Relena" do not qualify. If you wish for me to email you when the next part of the story is done please leave your email in the review. Thank you ever so much. ~Will O' The Wisp  
  
PS Gee I wonder who could be in that incredible knife throwing act *nudge nudge wink wink* 


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own GW blah blah blah.....See the previous chapter for my full disclaimer I am honestly too lazy to write it again. Gracious Living  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Relena!" Miriam called "Hurry up! We don't want to be late!"  
  
Relena bolted down the stairs her hands clumsly trying to put on an earing. "I'm sorry!" She called "I had no idea what time it was!" She finally caught up with the other girls Miriam, Caroline, and Brooke stood in the doorway in a neat little circle. They were the very image of college prep-dom. Dressed in pleated skirts, sweater sets, and pearls.  
  
Brooke Graham flashed her all American girl smile at Relena "You look just Peachy!" She squealed "Is that charm bracelet Cartier?"  
  
Relena looked at the gold bracelet dangling on her wrist and panted "I don't know. I got it as a gift."  
  
"Well it's darling!" Brooke exclaimed. "Come on girls, lets get a move on!"  
  
Brooke was the quintessencial Hamptons girl. She lived in a silver spoon world of country clubs, yachts, and cheerleading practice. She was preppy from the Tods shoes she bought in Malibu to the tip of her frighteningly perky ponytail, she was perfect pep to the hilt. Relena couldn't dislike her, even though she sometimes wanted to. Brooke was a nice girl, just a bit sheltered. In a way Relena envied her, Brooke lived in a rose-tinted world that she would never see.  
  
The girls all piled into Miriam's massive SUV and headed towards the city. The ride was anything but silent. Relena let the bubbly giggles about Harvard boys and Prada bags gently fade into the background as she stared out the window and admired the scenery. New England was very beautiful in the fall.  
  
The giggling had not subsided when they arrived at the circus. In fact it wasn't until the ring master called out "Ladies and Gentlemen!" That the last snicker faded away. "I give you the amazing Catherine and her brother Trowa in an act that defies nature! Ms. Catherine will now throw knives at her only beloved brother Trowa Barton!"  
  
Relena's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. As the pair entered the ring, Relena felt a flurry of butterflies in her stomach. There he was, a gundam pilot standing about twenty feet away from her. 'God does that bring back memories!' Relena thought to herself.  
  
The whole show seemed like a blur, Relena was drowning in her own thoughts. She thought about how much time had past since she's seen him, it had been years. 'Would he even recognize me?' she wondered. Her mind drifted from one pilot to the other as she pondered what had become of all the pilots. Had they gone home? Gotten normal jobs? Had nervous breakdowns and ended up lithium freaks in an institution? Her imagination ran rampantly. She hadn't minded at first until her mind began to drift to one pilot in particular....Heero Yuy.  
  
After the show Relena made up a story about needing to find the bathroom and agreed to meet up with the girls in a while. They had wanted to check out the game tents that surrounded the circus because Brooke was just dying to win a giant teddy bear. Relena meanwhile creeped away in search of Trowa's dressing room.  
  
Relena had lucked out, it was much easier to find than she had expected. Gently she knocked on the door, "Trowa?" She called, her voice was weak and barely above a whisper.  
  
"Come in Catherine." She heard a response from within the trailer.  
  
Relena stood paralyzed for a moment, unsure whether she should run away or open the door. Thankfully she was one step ahead of herself and her hand had already begun to turn the doorknob. "This isn't Catherine." She said softly.  
  
"Then who is-" Trowa stopped mid-sentence his mouth was wide open as he stared at the petite figure in the doorway "Relena!" He exclaimed with surprise.  
  
Relena smiled rather sheepishly "Uh, surprise?" She said as if she where asking him.  
  
Trowa's expression changed, he smiled warmly at her "It's good to see you." He said quietly. "Come in, sit down, we have a lot to talk about I suppose."  
  
Relena let out a sigh of relief, she was glad Trowa was happy to see her. She took him in for a moment, nothing much about him seemed to have changed except he seemed more friendly now, more open, and he had certainly said more than she had ever heard previously.  
  
They talked for a while. The subjects of their conversation varied from past memories to recent accounts. Relena had enjoyed their conversation immensely. It was nice to talk to someone who understood that part of her life.  
  
"So," she asked "Have you heard from any of the other pilots?"  
  
Trowa nodded "Quatre has returned home, I hear his company is going quiet well. We keep in touch. Duo has been working odd jobs moving around quiet a bit, and Wufie is here in Boston. I think he works at a martial arts school around here, and I am almost possitive he goes to school in the area."  
  
"And what about," Relena hesitated for a moment, "Heero?" That last word felt like a stone rolling off of her tongue.  
  
Trowa shook his head "I haven't heard anything about him, he just, disappeared." Relena's heart plummeted. "Oh." She said in a barely audible voice.  
  
Trowa sensed her disapointment "I'm sorry." He said.  
  
"No, it's fine." She replied. She sensed the silence around them, it made the air thick and unbearable. "I should probably get going, I'm supposed to meet my ride soon," She pulled a piece of paper and a pen out from her purse "Here's my number if you are staying here for a couple of days maybe you can call and visit. It's been very nice seeing you."  
  
Trowa smiled and waved as she got up "I'll be here for a couple more days, I'll see what I can do." He replied.  
  
"Great!" She said, and hurried out the door.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Muffin Peterson pranced around the common room handing out invitations to all the girls her voice rang across the room "Ladies we have a mixer with a bunch of colleges in Boston! I'm not taking no for an answer, everyone is going! They'll be Harvard boys and coctails there!" She practically sang.  
  
Muffin or "The Gracious Mascot" as the other girls jokingly refered to her had enough energy to run a nuclear power plant. She was the ultra bubbly ultra perky Beverly Hills princess. She made Brooke look like a dead- beat, and that wasn't easy. In truth Relena wasn't to keen on Muffin, she just seemed so fake, but she kept her thoughts to herself and silently accepted the invitation.  
  
Relena turned Emma desperately searching for words she said the first thing that came to mind "So what are you gonna wear?" By the time she realized what she was saying it was too late. Emma's eyes already widdened with terror. The blood drained from her already pale face as she stuttered "I-I, I don't know."  
  
Relena felt shame creep up on her like a spider crawling up her back.'Poor Emma,' She thought to herself 'This party must sound like a death toll to her, especially after her expierences with that awful guy. And they had to be guys from Harvard, didn't they? Why couldn't they be from Amherst? or Brandies? Or any place but Harvard?'  
  
"I'm sorry," Relena stumbled "That was totally inappropriate of me, I can't appologize enough, I hope I didn't upset you...."  
  
"It's ok," Emma replied "It's really ok."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Heero watched Relena silently through the window. She and the other girls were dressing up for some sort of an event. He watched as she pulled her hair up and brunette girl clasped her necklace. She looked beautiful, her body gently accentuated by the mint green satin of her dress "No Yuy!" He muttered to himself "Stop it! She is your mission, and nothing more. Remember that. And what would you do with the former Queen of the World, anyways?" A voice inside him whispered "You couldn't afford her, not to mention someone who has killed hundreds of others like you have doesn't deserve that. She's heaven, and your filth! Remember that! Now focus!"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Relena smoothed out her dress and looked in the mirror, she picked up a couple of hair pins and started to do her hair. All the girls were getting ready for the mixer. The bathroom door was open and through the mirror she could see what was happening in the next room. Emma was sitting on her bed looking rather forlorn. The layers of sheer fabric from her dress scattered around her like an eatherial mist. That particular shade of dusty rose was very becoming on her Relena noticed.  
  
In front of her where Veronica and Georgia trying to cheer her up. Their efforts unfortunately were fruitless. Emma was shaking with fear and dread. Lydia was in the doorway modeling a simple lilac dress. Her cartoonish gestures finally managed to crack a smile out of Emma. Relena was relieved 'Atleast she's not completely hopeless.' She thought.  
  
After taking on final look in the mirror she walked back to her room. All the girls were dressed very prettily. Veronica wore a dress that expressed her wild side (which Relena was now more than familiar with) it was a red coctail dress that came down to her knees with a scandelously low neckline. Georgia wore a bright flowered dress, and Lydia wore a simple violet dress. Relena now stopped to admire Emma's attire. She hadn't seen anything quiet like it. The style looked like something from the 1920s. Layers and layers of sheer fabric gathered under chest with a fabric rose.  
  
"You look great!" She exclaimed "All of you. Emma I love your dress!"  
  
Emma smiled uneasily, she would have rather looked godawful "Uh, thanks."  
  
"You look so pretty Relena!" Georgia said with her bright southern comfort smile.  
  
"Come on we better hurry downstairs Ms. Prince is gonna take a group picture."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Duo grumbled some rather colorful language under his breath as his boss handed him a pile of glasses to be put at the bar. 'Of all the jobs in Boston I had to be working at this stupid snooty hotel with it's stupid snooty coctail lounge. And they're stupid snooty parties that happen every frickin day! Where all the cool jobs? Why couldn't I be a bouncer at a club or something?....' His thoughts trailed off.  
  
He tried to focus on putting away the glasses as quickly as possible there was very little time left before the scheduled party would arrive. His efforts however where fruitless. 'The Harvard and Mt. Holyoke Mixer?' Duo thought 'What kind of name is that? Who calls a party "a mixer"? How lame can you get? And with colleges, I mean college bashes are supposed to have cool names! The only reason I'd ever go to college would be for parties! And I wouldn't want to go to something called a mixer....'  
  
"Duo!" The voice of his boss rang so loud he nearly shattered the glasses "Hurry up for Christ's sake! They'll be here any minute!' And back to work it was for poor Duo.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The girls all went their separate ways as they entered the coctail lounge. Veronica headed straight to the bar to get drinks for her and her friends, Emma and Relena headed towards an unoccupied table, the rest of the girls drifted towards small cliques of boys from the Harvard fencing team and crew team.  
  
Relena didn't really feel like talking to anyone, somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that no one could match a certain pilot that shall remain nameless. She also really wanted to keep Emma company, who looked like she was headed for execution.  
  
She put her hand on Emma's shoulder and softly said "Relax, nothing is going to happen." Emma looked up at her with a forced smile "Ok."  
  
Duo popped up from under the bar, his gaze was met by a female's rather exposing neckline. He turned bright red for a minute and then fully stood up to meet a pair of sparkling brown eyes. "Hi!" The dark haired girl exclaimed "Can I get a gin tonic and two mimosas for table uh-" She looked back and squinted "Table four?"  
  
"Yea, I'll have 'em right over there sexy!" He replied with a wink. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
As she sat back down at her table Veronica looked around. Suddenly her face was overcome by a look of pure shock "Oh my god! Relena this is nuts!" She explained "It's Bobby Drake! Jesus! He and I went to highschool together! How the fuck did he get into Harvard? I mean his family was rich but no one could pay Bobby's way into Harvard! Sure he was bright, but that kid had a discipline record from here to the nearest space colony." She laughed for a moment "I bet he's on the fencing team, he was pretty quick with his reflexes. You guys, I gotta go and catch up I'll talk to you later!" She jumped from the table and bolted towards her old friend.  
  
Emma wrapped her arms around herself as she looked at Relena "Is it just me or is it freezing in here?"  
  
Relena looked at Emma puzzled for a moment. It was not cold in the room, on the contrary it was very warm. "I don't think so." She replied. Something about Emma was very strange, Relena couldn't quiet put her finger on it. She had no time to think for she was interupted.  
  
"Here are your drinks la-OH MY GOD RELENA!" Duo exclaimed, nearly dropping the tray in his hand.  
  
Relena looked up to meet the wide violet eyes of a certain braided pilot. "Duo!" She replied with an equal surprise. "You work here?" Her stomach plummeted. This was the price of peace. Duo, who fought for the world was now reduced, to a waiter. It wasn't a stretch of the imagination, now that she thought about it. He did skip out on quiet a few years of school while he was a pilot, and after the war why would anyone need a guy who could run a gundam?  
  
"Sure do princess." Duo replied in a lack luster tone "Here are your drinks. I better get going before the boss kills me." He started to turn away when he felt Relena's hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Wait!" She said "We have so much we could catch up on. I think it would be a shame if we didn't. Let me write down my phone number, Trowa is town for a while and maybe we can all get together, I heard Wufei is here too..." She trailed off.  
  
"That would be nice princess." Duo said, a half-hearted grin crossed his features. "Come to the bar in a little bit and give it to me. I gotta get the rest of these drinks out, you would be surprised at how pissed off customers can get when they don't have their drinks!" With that Duo turned away and rushed off.  
  
'So that's what happened to her.' Duo thought to himself as he proceeded with handing out Cosmopolitians and glasses of wine. 'What did you expect?' A voice in his head chimed 'Of course she would go to college. What did you think she'd do become a waitress? Face it Maxwell, you're not like her. She probably had tudors making sure she was on track in school or something, besides unlike you she could actually afford college....' Duo's punitive concience droned on and on about him being a failure, thankfully he had learned to ignore it.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Relena," Emma addressed her quietly "I think I'm going to go home now. I'm really tired."  
  
Relena raised an eyebrow "It's only eight thirty."  
  
"I know," Emma answered "But I'm completely whiped out. I can barely stay awake. I'll talk to you later, okay?"  
  
Relena sighed, "Ok, goodnight.  
  
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Heero opened the window silently and crept into the moonlit room. His eyes wandered to Relena. She looked like an angel sleeping there, her hair spread around her liking a golden aura. He reached over and gently touched her face. He didn't know what he was doing there, but it somehow felt right. Suddenly he heard a rustling to his left.  
  
Emma sat up in her bed and looked around, there was a shadowed figure sitting on the edge of Relena's bed, a man. Without thinking she screamed "Relena! Oh my god Relena! There's a burgler in our room!" Heero cursed under his breath.....  
  
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Dum dum dum.....Cliff hanger! Alright thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I know it was a little boring, but this one is slightly more exciting I think. PLEASE Review. I want to know what you think. I also need ideas so leave comments. Thanks so much bye! 


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